


All the Lights in the Universe

by Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluffy Ending, Gift Fic, Jedi Practice, Legends-verse, Mutual Pining, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:22:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23862979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome/pseuds/Pontmercyingtilthecowscomehome
Summary: Between meeting and marriage, Mara and Luke practice her Jedi skills... and deal with their growing crushes on each other.
Relationships: Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44
Collections: May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Fanworks Exchange 2020





	All the Lights in the Universe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this fic! Mara was a childhood favorite of mine so it was great fun revisiting her!

Mara is no stranger to training. In some ways, she feels as if she has spent her whole life training. For battle, for the Emperor’s tasks, for survival. She is used to hard work, used to pushing her body beyond its limits. 

She is not used to this sort of training though. A gentle sort, full of warm meals and comfortable beds. A training routine designed not to push her, but to comfort her.

To heal her, as Luke said, when the two sketched out their plans to improve her skills as a Jedi. Or rather, her non-lightsaber-using skills, as those came to her quite naturally. These two weeks that Luke had carved out from their schedules were for mediation, for conversations and studying of ancient texts.

They were also two weeks full of her noticing just how handsome, how gentle, Skywalker was, much to her own annoyance. Her dreams had become quite distracting lately, which meant she’d often leave in the morning for long runs through the woods of Yavin IV. 

Her heart is still pounding from that run this morning, as she settles into a cross-legged position next to Luke. Or at least, she’s going to blame the run, and not the way his smile lights up his face like a star leaping into hyper-drive.

“Now, where were we?” Luke asks.

“We were about to practice with the lightsabers,” Mara mutters.

“Nice try.”

She shrugs, unabashed. 

Luke leans over and squeezes her shoulder. Her heart does a completely unnecessary backflip. “Mara,” he says, “we must build your connection to the light side of the Force. We already know you’re a capable fighter.”

“If I don’t get rusty while I’m here.”

“Fine,” he says, a hint of a chuckle in his voice. “The next two weeks we have together, we’ll use it for sparring practice. Fair?”

“Quite,” she replies.

“Good. Now, settle into your seat. Take a deep breath. Feel the Force.”

Those first two commands came easily enough to her, but the third one gave her pause. What exactly was the Force, after all? She knew it, the way she knows her name and her heartbeat, but she cannot describe it, not well at least. 

Luke had described it as the pulse of the universe, the connection of all living things. That didn’t work for Mara. She’s a loner, or at least, has spent most of her life as one. The idea of feeling connected to _everything_ is more than just a little overwhelming.

So she slows down her thoughts, connecting to just one living thing at a time. The tree above her, providing shade. The grass below her.

Luke, next to her, so close she could swear she hears his heartbeat, a warm, steady beat, as if he is the drum that the universe marches to.

She’s pretty sure that’s not a very Jedi-like thought and tries to push it away.

Just as Luke himself pushes his hair out of his eyes and she’s suddenly struck by a deep, intense wondering of what it might be like to run her fingers through those golden locks. How soft it would feel, how gentle she’d try to be.

Mara had never wanted to be gentle with anyone before she’d met Luke.

Even that one kiss they’d shared, the one neither of them had spoken of yet, that had been so gentle too.

Mara’s hand reaches up, slowly tracing over her lips, as if feeling the kiss once more.

“You’re not concentrating,” he says, his eyes closed.

She swears, which she is _sure_ is not a Jedi-like trait.

Luke, to his credit, just chuckles. “Try again. Feel the Force. Pull it closer to you.”

Mara is stubborn, so she tries to follow his advice, as impossible as it is. Once more she reaches out to that great beyond, that feeling of connection, of belonging to so much more than just herself. She reaches out, imagining herself succeeding, imagining the Force wrapping around her… rather like Luke’s own arms.

She hadn’t been imagining the Force at all. 

_Shavit._ She keeps that curse inside. Gritting her teeth, she tries again. Once more she breathes in, trying to pull the connection of the universe around her. Once more, she imagines the feeling of lightness, of floating…

“Mara?” Luke’s voice asks, sounding more than a little concerned. “Uh. Mara!”

Her eyes fly open, just in time to see him hovering above the ground, for one moment, before he crash-lands into her lap.

Well, that had been another failed attempt. “I’m a terrible student,” Mara groans, trying not to reflect on how nice Luke smells as he pushes himself back up to seated, his hair all tousled and his cheeks pink with a blush.

“You are… unusual,” Luke replies.

The feared assassin glares up at him. He laughs and ruffles her hair. “But I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

Then, just as fast as he could draw a lightsaber in a battler, Luke bends down and plants a kiss on her cheek. He springs back, twisting into a backflip, as if he knew she’d lunge for him.

Which she had.

Not to fight.

Just to maybe… steal another kiss.

Luke shakes his head. “Practice first. Diversions, later.”

“You strike a hard bargain.” She settles back in her seat, closing her eyes.

“Mara,” Luke says, “do you keep thinking of me, whenever you think of the Force?”

“Yes,” she admits, though it’s not easy.

“Why?”

“Because I’m worried if I can’t connect to the Force, I’ll lose you.” Darn it all, she’d said it. Luke had that way about him, that talent at coaxing out her truth. “I don’t like to fail,” she adds, as if that’s enough to cover up her earlier words.

There is a long moment of silence. Then, Luke’s hand rests gently on her knee. “You won’t lose me, Mara,” he says, his voice taking on that serious, Jedi-Knight-sounding, aspect. It rumbles in her ribs. “I am with you. Always.”

Mara had spent her life training, but she had never practiced her ability to trust. That was what held her back, she understands now. The fear of things slipping away if she opens herself up, the fear of loss.

In some ways, she’s spent her life losing. But now, maybe now things are different. Her fingers curl around Luke’s. He lets out a short, soft sigh, as if he too had been hoping for this.

Mara had spent her life searching, too. She’s found what she had looked for so long… found more than that, even. A purpose, a home, a love.

She had found her peace, finally. 

She closes her eyes. Once more she breathes out, slowly. This time, she imagines herself opening up. She pulls nothing closer, clings to nothing. Instead, she offers the universe her heart, surrenders to the pulse of the nature around her.

Her spirit expands. She feels more than just the trees, more than even the planets. She feels stars and nebulas, galaxies, all the lights in the universe.

It’s so beautiful, so much more than she could have ever expected.

For one moment, the beauty threatens to break her, as she imagines losing this too, the loss she’d feel if this connection was taken from her. But then, there is Luke’s hand on her knee, and that is enough to center her once more.

She is enough.

Luke won’t leave her.

Both things are true, as true as the Force she now finds flowing through her with every breath.

The rocks around her begin to slowly levitate, then rotate, spinning like a very small galaxy, around a woman who has started to trust in the great impossible unseen things of life.

Like hope.

Like the Force.

Like love. 

When she is done, Luke’s hand is still holding hers and the smile on his face is as bright as the galaxy itself.


End file.
